Microsoft releases swag of updates
Microsoft releases swag of updates
Nov 8, 2005: It's party time over at Microsoft as they herald the release of SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and the soon to be released BizTalk Server 2006.
And there is no doubt they will be keen to discuss advances with SQL Server 2005 considering this is the first update to the software in 5 years.
In the US Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer kicked off the event by highlighting the tens of thousands of customers and partners that played a major role in the product development process, providing ongoing input to deliver the next evolution in Microsoft's application platform.
"Through deep collaboration with our customers and partners, today we're delivering powerful new platform capabilities with unprecedented integration between the server infrastructure and development tools," Ballmer said. "We're enabling people to gain more insight into their businesses and play an even bigger role in the success of their organizations."
Closer to home Tony Ward, director of Server & Tools business group at Microsoft Australia will launch the new software today with Australian organisations such as the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR), the BlueArc group, Mincom and Financial Network Services discussing their early successes with the new software.
Microsoft is talking up the advancements made with the new software, which has been built on foundations made with significant investments in Windows Server 2003 and Microsoft .NET. The deeper integration of the server and tools with today's releases enables a host of innovative scenarios and range of new capabilities, all with underlying support for web services.
Visual Studio 2005 and the .NET Framework 2.0 for example, enables developers and development teams to build high-performance, security-enhanced and reliable solutions using an enterprise-ready development platform. SQL Server 2005 provides an integrated data management and analysis platform with embedded reporting and data analysis tools, and BizTalk Server 2006 delivers new features that enable enterprises to better monitor, manage and deploy their mission-critical business processes. In addition to this, Microsoft has announced that it will include 16 new integration adapters in BizTalk Server 2006 Enterprise and Standard editions at no additional charge to customers.
"Of all the superplatform vendors, Microsoft provides the most cohesive solution," said Anne Thomas Manes, vice president and research director at Burton Group. "Microsoft's strategy of tightly integrating the application platform with the underlying operating system enables a bedrock foundation for management, administration, security and tooling that provides a single, consistent, easy experience throughout the platform."
Microsoft also announced several new benchmark results that demonstrate the performance gains achieved with SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005. The validation from these benchmarks enables customers to better understand the real-world scenarios supported by these products:
In addition to the new products, Microsoft also announced a free version of SQL Server. Named SQL Server 2005 Express Edition, it is available at no cost to users and is no doubt a response to Oracle's 10g Express Edition.
"Our goal with this set of releases is to have something for everybody," Ballmer said. "We haven't forgotten the broadest set of developers we have, which are these Web developers, students and hobbyists."
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